Working on Tasks You Don't Like To Do

The difference between tasks you like to do and tasks you do not like to do is your attitude.

Have you ever bagged potatoes? 

I worked in a grocery store where bagging potatoes was a daily task. Everyone hated to bag potatoes. The first day on the job, I was trained on how to bag potatoes. The potatoes came from the warehouse in huge 100 pound bags. The bags were heavy enough, but they were also bulky and hard to grab. The potatoes were dumped into the "bagger" which held 4 or 5 hundred pounds of potatoes. From the bagger, we would weigh out 5 and 10 pound bags, staple them closed, then stack them in the stock room for later use.

As I was being trained, I was informed that no one liked to bag potatoes and that I would hate it also. Guess what? I hated bagging potatoes! After I was trained, I was then informed that the newest stocker was the one that had to bag potatoes, so that became my job for the first two hours each day when I went to work. One day while bagging potatoes, I realized that after the potatoes were loaded into the bagger, it was not a hard job at all. The bagging area was in an isolated area and when bagging potatoes I was not disturbed or called to do other things. Then I understood the reason I did not like bagging potatoes; it was because of the seed of dislike that was sown by my trainer. I started looking forward to bagging potatoes.

It wasn't long until we hired a new stocker and it was my job to train the person on the fine art of bagging potatoes. Everyone assumed that I would stick the "new guy" with the undesirable potato sacking job. However, to everyone's surprise, I told them that I wanted to continue sacking potatoes. I regretted telling them that I liked sacking potatoes because it made them take a second look at the job. They all realized the things that I knew already about this task and soon everyone was fighting over who would get to sack potatoes. Soon it became the stocker with the most seniority's job. I enjoyed it while it lasted.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson that I have shared often with others. The difference between doing things you like and doing things you don't like lies in your attitude. Your attitude is one of the few things at work that you have 100% control over. There are many things that will affect your attitude, but your attitude is your choice. Do not underestimate ATTITUDE! I was in a hospital visiting a friend when I passed a young man rolling himself down the hall in a wheelchair. As we passed, I noticed that his t-shirt read, "Attitude is everything!" How true that is. The difference in how you live life confined to a wheelchair is in the attitude. How you live facing adverse circumstances is in the attitude. How you face desirable tasks and undesirable tasks is in your attitude.

How to work on tasks you don't like to do is in your attitude. 

Discover why you do not like the task and determine if it really is that bad. Try to discover something positive about it. Break the task into more manageable portions or jump on it the first thing at work to get it over with. Reward yourself for getting it done early and correctly. Your attitude toward the task is your choice.

What tasks do you dread to do?

What is your attitude toward it?

Why do you have this attitude?

What can you change to have a better attitude toward the task?

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